Neon Genesis Evangelion: Guardian
by BiggestDreamer86
Summary: Misato questions her ability to be there those she cares about after the battle with the Twelfth Angel, Leliel. Can coming home after a long day at work convince her otherwise? *Minor Language, One-Shot*


_**Neon Genesis Evangelion**_:

"**Guardian"**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or concepts presented in EVA. If I did...End of Eva would have been done a little different.

_The following story takes place after episode 16, "Splitting of the Breast"_

"Crap!" was all Misato Katsuragi could say to herself, while she sat behind the wheel of her Renault Alpine A310.

NERV's Operation's Director had been stuck underground for the past 24 hours, filing paperwork in regards to the last Angel attack. While no one had been harmed by the Angel, now code named Leliel, a lot of structural damage had been incurred none the less.

Unfortunately, not only had the Angel's AT Field absorbed multiple buildings, but parts of the local roadways as well.

"Even a dead Angel can still be a nuisance...," Misato grumbled to herself as she sat in bumper to bumper traffic.

A traffic sign hanging over the Major's car flashed the word "Detour" over and over, as if mocking her already fatigued state.

"I just _had_ to take the _shortcut_ home," she sighed to herself as she slumped back into driver's seat. "At least Shinji and Asuka can take care of themselves until I get back," she tried to assure herself. "Yeah, take care of themselves...," she said as he thoughts drifted back to what had happened during the last attack.

--

"Misato! What's going on? HELP MEEE...," Shinji shrieked in terror over the communication line as he fired round after round at the shadow. "MISATO! MISATO!" he kept crying out in vain to his friend and guardian.

_No...NO!_, Misato screamed in her head as she tried to keep her thoughts straight. _I can't lose him too!_, she mentally yelled.

"Eject the plug! Get him out of there!" Misato yelled to the three technicians seated before her.

"No response, its not working!" Maya yelled back to the Major.

"MISATO, CAN YOU HEAR ME? MISATO! MISATOOO...," Shinji screamed before both him and Unit-1 were both absorbed completely into the black void.

"SHINJI!" Misato's scream echoed in her memory.

--

"I couldn't do anything...," Misato whispered under her breath as tears began to glisten in her already bloodshot eyes. "What kind of guardian am I?" she added once again.

"HEY! MOVE IT BITCH! SOME OF US WANT TO GET HOME!" a burly, disgruntled motorist yelled from the car behind her as he blared his horn.

"Huh?" Misato said as she snapped back to reality.

She saw that the road had cleared up a bit and that the detour sign had stopped flashing.

"Hmm, rush hour must be over...," Misato said with a yawn as she put her car into gear. "Hmph, _want to get home _huh?", Misato muttered to herself. "That guy was a complete ass, but I guess I can't blame him...," she said as she stared out toward her apartment building coming into view. "I guess that's where we all want to go," she continued, as she pulled into the parking lot.

--

Misato made her way up the staircase to her floor. Most of the power in Tokyo-3 was being run off of generators at the moment. To conserve power, luxuries such as elevators had to be shut down for the next few weeks.

"This is ridiculous...," Misato huffed as she climbed the stair case. "We caused a wide spread blackout all over Japan to kill the 5th angel and we still had power up and running by morning!" Misato exclaimed as she recalled the operation that had garnered her the rank of Major.

"Of course...," Misato huffed again as she finally reached her floor, "...the power lines were still in place after all was said and done.

"Wow, "Misato said as she reached her door. "I need to workout more often," she added as she put her key toward the lock.

"DUMKOPF! PERVERT!" a muffled voice yelled behind the door before a large_ smack, thud, _and "OW" were heard behind the door.

_Oh boy. What now?_, Misato thought as she turned the knob.

Misato opened the door to reveal a somewhat battered Shinji on the floor, rubbing the back of his head. A red-faced and fuming Asuka was standing over him, covered in only a towel and brandishing a small pot menacingly at the Third Child.

"You knew exactly where you were grabbing you idiot!" Asuka screamed as she advanced toward Shinji's shaken figure on the floor.

"I told you Asuka, it was an accident!" Shinji yelled as he held his arms up in self defense. "I was just trying to dry my hands on a towel. You walked by when I reached for a dish towel and I grabbed yours by accident," Shinji tried to explain as his face went 5 different shades of red within seconds.

"A likely story from an idiot who can't keep his hormones in check!" Asuka yelled back as she slowly advanced closer to the now trembling Third Child.

_This is like some bad anime moment_, Misato thought to herself as Pen-Pen came running up behind her, shivering in fear.

"Ahem!" Misato said with an air of authority.

The two Eva pilots expressions shifted from anger and fear to surprise within seconds as they turned toward the door.

"Uh...hey Misato!" Shinji tried force out an attempted upbeat greeting.

"Misato!", Asuka yelled as she beamed an obviously forced smile. "When did you get home?" she nervously questioned the new arrival.

Misato put her hand to her chin and stair off into space as she said, "Oh, I don't know. Early enough to get an idea of what's going on here, but too late to see Shinji "make the moves" on you Asuka," she finished with tired, but fiendish grin.

"WHA!" the two pilots said in unison, "Its nothing like that!"

"Well, at least I know the synchronization training we gave you is still working," she said with and even bigger grin.

"No its not!" both Shinji and Asuka exclaimed in unison again.

Misato chuckled to herself as she sat down on the couch finally.

"Ahh, that feels great!" she said out as she reclined a bit.

"Misato!" Asuka finally started. "What about Shinji?"

"What about him?" Misato said with an _airy_ tone.

"Aren't you going to punish him for feeling me up? You heard what he did to me didn't you?" Asuka said as she crossed her arms tightly to hold her towel up.

"Yeah, I did," Misato said with a long yawn. "You and I both know that Shinji wouldn't do that on purpose, right Asuka?" she asked as she managed to open one heavy eye toward the Second Child.

"But...," Asuka began before being cut off.

"Besides," Misato said with another large yawn, "you probably really liked it anyway."

Asuka's face at that moment went completely red, not with anger, but with embarrassment.

"What? I mean, huh? Are you kidding me Misato?" Asuka exclaimed as her face went scarlet enough to match her plug suit.

"Nope, not at all," Misato said in an airy tone as she closed her eye again.

"Ach mein gott!" Asuka shouted as she ran off to her bedroom, with the pot still in hand.

_Crisis averted_, Misato thought with an air of triumph.

Shinji had managed to hoist himself off of the floor during this exchange, but was now blushing slightly from what Misato and Asuka had said. He walked over to the couch and sat down next to his guardian and friend.

"Hey Misato...," Shinji began to say while staring at the floor.

Misato let out another loud yawn before answering, "Yeah Shinji?"

Shinji rubbed his hands together as he tried to continue what he wanted to say.

"Well, I just want to say thanks, I guess...,"Shinji trailed off again

"For what?" Misato asked as she forced her sleep deprived eyes open one more time toward the young boy.

"Well, just for _being there_," Shinji said with a small smile.

Misato gave him a crooked smirk and put her right hand on his.

"No problem kiddo. I'll always try to be there for you guys," she said softly as sleep finally claimed her.

--

Later on, Misato awoke once again on the couch in the now dark living room. She stretched a bit before noticing that she had been covered by a dark red throw with German writing embroidered around the edge.

_Asuka_, Misato thought to herself with a smile as she rose out of bed and went to change in the bathroom.

The small clock radio that was on the sink flashed 3 o'clock on its display.

"I've been asleep for ten hours already!" Misato quietly exclaimed to herself

"Funny, it still feels like a lot less," she whispered as she quietly walked out of the bathroom.

Her attention turned toward the first door on her left, from which hung a wooden sign that read _Asuka's Abode_ on it.

Misato quietly opened the door and peered into the dark bedroom.

A red headed figure could be seen, completely uncovered and shivering slightly due to the now much cooler air coming through the open window.

_Poor girl's going to get sick that way..._, Misato thought as she walked over to the side of Asuka's bed.

Misato grabbed the much larger red blanket and covered the young girl up to her shoulders. Asuka's expression suddenly changed from a tense frown to a small smile.

"Shinji isn't the only one I look after...," Misato whispered to the sleeping girl as she made her way out of the room

Misato made her way over to the room next door to Asuka's, which had a sign that read _Shinji's Lovely Suite_ hanging from the door.

Peering in again, she saw the young, raven haired boy sound asleep on his side, with is SDAT player still in his ears.

Misato made her way over to Shinji and stared down at him for a moment. Images of when he had been removed from the entry plug after freeing himself from Leliel flooded her mind.

"For a moment I thought...", Misato started to whisper as a single tear slid down her cheek.

She did not finish the statement and just bent over to hug the young boy lightly, as not to awaken him.

"I hope some of your dreams are pleasant ones Shinji," Misato whispered as she pulled the covers up a little more over him.

As Misato started to leaved the room she heard Shinji move all of a sudden and mumble in his sleep.

She walked slowly back toward his, only to hear him mumble, "Mi...sa...to...," as a subtle, small smile appeared on his face.

Misato just stared at the unconscious young boy for a moment longer as she felt a warmth spread throughout her body. Then she made her way to his door.

She finally made sure Pen-Pen was asleep in his habitat, before making her way to the room. A warm smile was on her face as she finally curled up under her own covers.

"I guess this is the kind of guardian I am," Misato whispered to herself as she closed her eyes.

"The kind that makes this place...a home," she finished as sleep once again claimed her exhausted mind and body.

_End_

(A/N: Thanks to "Tobi the good boy" for pointing out the sign error and "gunman" for being the first reviewer!)


End file.
